Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by brouta » 20 Jan 2014, 10:14 am

Hi guys,

Can someone tell me, if you have two of the same rifles with everything equal except barrel length, should they work equally well with the same hand loads?

e.g. Ruger do their Hawkeye in a "standard" with a 22" barrel and their "compact" with a 16.5" barrel but otherwise everything with the two rifles is the same.

Would/should the same handload work equally well with either rifle?
brouta
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 36
Tasmania

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by brouta » 20 Jan 2014, 10:15 am

Another example.

If you had a load tuned for a rifle and shortened the barrel, e.g. cut off an inch to re-crown the muzzle, should the same load work?

Thanks.
brouta
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 36
Tasmania

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by Baldrick314 » 20 Jan 2014, 11:36 am

brouta wrote:Hi guys,

Can someone tell me, if you have two of the same rifles with everything equal except barrel length, should they work equally well with the same hand loads?

e.g. Ruger do their Hawkeye in a "standard" with a 22" barrel and their "compact" with a 16.5" barrel but otherwise everything with the two rifles is the same.

Would/should the same handload work equally well with either rifle?


Although this isn't exactly what you asked, my father in law and I have the exact same rifle each bought from the same shop on the same day. His most accurate load is 1gr less than mine and his chamber is approx 10 thou shorter than mine. So even in rifles that should be identical there's a fair bit of variance. You could use the same loads for both rifles and be safe but I don't think you'd get optimum accuracy. Best bet would be load development for both I think
.177, .22lr, .22-250R, 2x .308W, .30-30W, 7.62x54r, 8x56r, 9x19, .357 Mag, 12GA
User avatar
Baldrick314
Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
 
Posts: 980
New South Wales

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by Apollo » 20 Jan 2014, 11:43 am

Once you make one change to the rifle barrel like different length, diameter, crown etc you will change the harmonics of the barrel and hence change the accuracy. You would need to do load development for each barrel or change to the same barrel.
Apollo
Warrant Officer C1
Warrant Officer C1
 
Posts: 1327
New South Wales

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by Fujix » 20 Jan 2014, 2:56 pm

Yep, as the guys have said... Changing the barrel will affect how it handles a load.

If everything else is the same though, probably just a little increase/decrease in the powder charge would be all that's required.

If it has the same action, same rifling, twist rate etc. and everything except the barrel length it should still like the same bullets. Just maybe with a little more or less puff.
Barrett M82 .50 calibre... Ok, not really :(
User avatar
Fujix
Private
Private
 
Posts: 81
Victoria

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by kurl » 20 Jan 2014, 3:05 pm

Fujix wrote:If everything else is the same though, probably just a little increase/decrease in the powder charge would be all that's required.


Chiming in here for my understanding.

So from the original load you reckon you'd just try a few .1gr up and down? Would that do?
User avatar
kurl
Private
Private
 
Posts: 70
Victoria

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by Baldrick314 » 20 Jan 2014, 5:42 pm

kurl wrote:
Fujix wrote:If everything else is the same though, probably just a little increase/decrease in the powder charge would be all that's required.


Chiming in here for my understanding.

So from the original load you reckon you'd just try a few .1gr up and down? Would that do?


It's hard to state a rule of thumb because every rifle really is it's own beast but it shouldn't need too much adjustment. I'd think up to a grain may so yeah .1 adjustments would be a good idea
.177, .22lr, .22-250R, 2x .308W, .30-30W, 7.62x54r, 8x56r, 9x19, .357 Mag, 12GA
User avatar
Baldrick314
Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
 
Posts: 980
New South Wales

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by 5Tom » 20 Jan 2014, 5:52 pm

That would be the required step Kurl. Think of it like a guitar string. Two strings of equal thickness at the same tension, but you press your finger 3 frets down the neck on one string. The sound will change between the two.

You won't get an E note to sound like an A note unless you tune the string by adjusting the string tension. In our case, you won't get the same accuracy unless you tune your powder charge.
5Tom
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 190
Queensland

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by SendIt » 20 Jan 2014, 9:10 pm

Baldrick314 wrote:It's hard to state a rule of thumb because every rifle really is it's own beast but it shouldn't need too much adjustment. I'd think up to a grain may so yeah .1 adjustments would be a good idea


Yeah, hopefully you could just get away with some tuning and not a full load development from scratch.

e.g. Ruger do their Hawkeye in a "standard" with a 22" barrel and their "compact" with a 16.5" barrel but otherwise everything with the two rifles is the same.


For something like that, say you had a load of 45gr worked up for the 22" barrel, and bought a 16.5" as well, I'd do a batch of loads something like 44.6, 44.8, 45, 45.2 and 45.4 for the 16.5".

Hopefully one's about bang on and you can skip the whole min to max stage and refinement from there.

No guarantees though.
Sako 85 Hunter Laminated Stainless 30-06 Sprg
Zeiss Conquest HD5 2-10x42

Winchester 1892 44-40
User avatar
SendIt
Corporal
Corporal
 
Posts: 477
New South Wales

Re: Reloading for different length barrel, same action

Post by brouta » 11 Feb 2014, 9:05 am

Thanks for the responses guys.

Good to know for down the road.
brouta
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 36
Tasmania


Back to top
 
Return to Reloading ammunition